shangri-la wrote:A lion has one claw in a strange place on its body. The tail. When you pull back the dark brown tip of the lion's tail, you will see a small claw. We do not know if the lions use this claw or not, but it's still cool to know.

I think this is a myth Shangri-la.

I know that the WWF is confirming this.............

I recently did a training course at Entebeni and was very privileged to help at their breeding centre to relocate cheetah and lions ..... it is true - lion's to have a "claw" at the end of their tail.

]]>2009-10-28T18:39:19+02:002009-10-28T18:39:19+02:00https://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23867&p=912871#p912871also porcupines are one of the few animals to have sex for pleasure (or to maintin close bonds etc). They continue to mate when the female is not in season.

Dung beetles may be divided into three groups on account of their behaviour.

There are PARACOPRIDS who land on the dung pat and construct their tunnels directly below the pat (depending on the species, a whole variety of nest types may be constructed below the pat).

Then there are ENDOCOPRIDS which are a very specalised group of dung beetles which are present in winter within the droppings of elephants or rhinoceroses. They construct their nests within the dung pats in which they form several brood-balls, each containing an egg.

And lastly there are TELECOPRIDS or ball-rollers, and this is the group that has the most elabrorate structures for relesing chemical signals known as pheromones. The ball-rollers are in effect cutting off a piece of dung and removing it from further competition by rolling it away and burying it.

]]>2009-09-19T10:55:26+02:002009-09-19T10:55:26+02:00https://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23867&p=871457#p871457I HOPE THIS IS NOT BORING YOU??...

When larger desert animals such as Eland, Gemsbok Red Hartebeest and Blue Wildebeest become water stressed (cant afford to loose anymore water through sweating) they have an ingenious manner in which they solve this temprature control problem.

They will allow their body temprature to rise but will keep the temprature of their brain cool. They do this by means of a so-called 'blood-flow radiator' known as the CAROTID RETE SYSTEM. Basically this system cools the blood going to the brain.

This saves them varst amounts of water that would otherwise have been required for normal evaporative cooling (sweating) to keep the temprature of the whole body constant and below a level that would be dangerous to the brain.

]]>2009-09-19T10:46:17+02:002009-09-19T10:46:17+02:00https://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23867&p=871446#p871446The fur of the Springbok is abapted to reflect the suns heat. Although their fur is generally thin, the white fur on their lower back is long and can be made to stand up. On avergage these hairs on their lower back, together with the white fur on the belly, may reflect up to 75% of all the direct and reflected heat that strikes these parts of the coat.

But at night the springbok (and Steenbok) pay the price for their thin fur. They have to shiver in order to produce enough heat to keep warm.

Springbok and Steenbok generally dont take in water by drinking and keep a very tight control of their water loss therefore sweating is kept to a minimum. Their fur is important when it come to controlling their body heat. On various parts of their body, these smaller antelope have the shortest hair of all the desert ungulaters.

This shotness of hair is directly related to the pressure that these antelope are under from predators. Larger antelope such as Gemsbok and Eland are able to defend themselves against Lion or Hyenas with their sheer body size and lethal horns. But smaller antelope can only run away from predators and do so at great speed.

During this escape run for safety the Springbok and Steenbok produce large amounts of heat at a rapid rate within their bodies. Their thin fur now allowes them to quickly offload this build-up of heat during and after their safety sprint. This prevents their body temprature from reaching dangerous levels.

]]>2009-03-13T12:37:53+02:002009-03-13T12:37:53+02:00https://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23867&p=687226#p687226Did you know that an elephants favourite snack is the root bulbs of the creeper: morning glory (can someone help with scientific name please ?)